Minutes:
The Chairman announced that two petitions were to be presented regarding the proposed redevelopment of the Leisure Centre. In addition there were a number of public questions which all related to the decision to not include a Sports Hall within the replacement Leisure Centre. The Chairman stated that Councillor R. J. Laight as Portfolio Holder for Leisure would respond to these questions.
The petitions were presented by Ms Sharron Kibble and were phrased as follows:
Petition 1 : “To prevent the downgrading of sports facilities and the destruction of local community groups”
Petition 2: “We the undersigned petition Bromsgrove District Council to keep a sports hall attached specifically to the planned new Leisure Centre”
The petitions were passed to the Monitoring Officer in accordance with the Council’s petitions protocol.
Questions from Members of the Public
From Mr C. Barnett
“Why is the Council spending £426,939 on spa facilities, £128,000 on a climbing wall and £200,000 on a moveable floor, a total of £755,939 on features that were not identified in their consultation, and are already available in other venues within easy reach of Bromsgrove Town Centre; but claim that a sports hall, which was one of the key demands of the public consultation, makes the scheme unaffordable”?
Councillor Laight welcomed the attendance of the public at the Council meeting and the fact that a number of residents had submitted questions under the procedure recently introduced.
In response to the question, Councillor Laight made the following points:
· the plans had not changed since the decision was taken in July 2014 to implement a scheme for the new Leisure Centre which did not include a sports hall;
· the new Centre would be Bromsgrove’s “jewel in the crown” and would be a “fantastic” facility for residents;
· within the budget available the Council was seeking to provide a broad range of facilities and activities which reflected changing leisure habits and participation and would encourage new users to visit as well as catering for those already engaged in sport and physical activity ;
· there had been detailed needs analysis and close consultation with National Governing Bodies of sports and Sports England had been involved in determining the mix of facilities.
· the sports hall provision across the District had increased significantly since the Dolphin Centre was built, including the four court sports hall at North Bromsgrove High School completed in 2013. The intention was to enable these assets to be used by the community and to ensure that the capital cost of the project was at an affordable level;
· it was felt that the facilities to be offered would extend the overall offer of affordable, state of the art, sport and leisure facilities for the wider community and increase participation rates during a period of budget pressure;
· whilst it was accepted that there would be some displacement of daytime users and this had been referred to in the report of July 2014, it was intended this would be minimised by the use of other facilities.
From Mr P. Ganner
“Will the Council accept the failures of their past judgements and guarantee to review the decisions previously taken to remove a facility that Bromsgrove has had for 25 years”?
Councillor Laight responded that whilst the Council understood the concerns behind the question and had some sympathy, it was not accepted that there had been a failure of judgement. The issues were known when the original decision was taken and there was no intention to alter the plans for the new leisure centre which would be open in 2017.
From Mr P. Rendell
“In view of how unpopular demolishing the sports hall and selling land for housing will be with the community, for the dubious benefit of even more running machines and spin machines in Bromsgrove, could I plead with the Council to look again at options to keep the sports hall”?
Councillor Laight felt this question was similar to the previous question. Councillor Laight referred to the comments of Sports England and other consultants that sports hall provision was high in Bromsgrove. Discussions were on going to ensure there were facilities available for all parties although there would inevitably need to be some changes in times of use.
From Mrs L. Humphries
“What does the new leisure centre offer in terms of variety of sporting and fitness activities for our children that will replace the current provision the Dolphin Centre offers”?
Councillor Laight listed the current facility mix proposed for the new leisure centre. Councillor Laight stated that it was the intention to work with current service users to build their needs wherever possible into the new programmes for the site. If current sessions couldn’t be accommodated it was the intention to work with users to find alternative venues. It was accepted that there may be groups which would be displaced with potentially no alternative venue being available.